SAN FRANCISCO >> While NHRA drivers will come down to a sea level raceway after being up in the high altitude of Denver last week, that doesn’t mean they won’t try to elevate their positions in the standings this weekend in Sonoma.

The Toyota NHRA Nationals will take place at Sonoma Raceway starting Friday for the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series events. Races will take place for Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle.

Lucas Oil Series will also be featured at the event but on Thursday, racers J.R. Todd (Top Fuel) and Alexis DeJoria (Funny Car) were on hand for a media luncheon at McCormick and Kuleto’s in San Francisco to talk about the upcoming weekend. Both drivers are trying to improve on their races last week in Denver at the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals.

“It was a tough race for us,” DeJoria said about Denver. “We weren’t making the power that we wanted in the first runs and unfortunately we didn’t have enough weight on the front end of the car so we had to shut it off and had some issues. Qualified well when all said and done but didn’t have the right set-up on Sunday so (it was) unfortunate. We got one bonus point out of it, but definitely not what we need right now, we need more than that.”

DeJoria, who drives the Tequila Patron Toyota Camry, is 10th in the Funny Car standings with 733 points but she said she hopes to get back on the right track at Sonoma.

“I love racing here,” DeJoria said. “California is my old home where I grew up (she now lives in Texas) and the track is the kind of track to have some record-breaking numbers. I’ve been coming here for 10 years and I love the track. It’s a smooth track and has a nice long shutdown area. Also, it’s right in the middle of wine country, so I like that.”

Todd, who is just one point behind Shawn Langdon and currently resides in seventh place in the Top Fuel standings with 799, will try to overtake him and more this weekend as he hopes for a quicker race.

“In Denver, because of the high altitude it’s hard to drive with a lot of horse power,” Todd said. “At Sonoma you can use a ton of horse power. It’s an all-around great track and great facility. The staff is awesome and it’s definitely one of my favorites. The track is smooth and for the Friday night run you might see a lot of records being broken.”

The racer of the SealMaster dragster was part of a record he didn’t want to belong to May 16 in Atlanta at the NHRA Summit Southern Nationals — closest race ever. Unfortunately for Todd, he lost to Doug Kalitta by ..0001 of a second.

“I keep trying to forget about it but it seems that once a week somebody keeps reminding me about it,” Todd said with a laugh. ‘That’s cool, you’re part of the closest race in history.’ Yeah, the losing end of history. Yeah it’s good for drag racing and good for the Kalitta’s … but I can’t complain on how the season has gone up to this point. I mean we’re one point out from sixth and going to the countdown I’d like to be top five just to give myself a better shot at going for that Mello Yello championship.”

Todd, the 34-year-old from Indianapolis and winner in Sonoma in 2006, would like nothing more than a return to glory.

“You know, a lot has changed since then (2006) and now,” Todd said. “But I approach every race the same no matter where it’s at. Our team takes some good notes and has good information on this course and that helps us out. Lately in races it’s been about our consistency. That needs to pick up. We’ve been setting ourselves up poorly on the qualifying days and it hurts us in the later rounds on Sunday. So we need to qualify better.”

Also at the luncheon on Thursday to give DeJoria support was her husband and television personality Jesse James. James and DeJoria both described themselves as “perfectionists” on Thursday but James said he often tells DeJoria to look at the big picture with her racing.

“One of my favorite things to tell her is to look at the ladder,” James said. “There are all of these great racers and she’s right in the middle of them.”

Been working at the Times-Herald full time since early 2011, was a stringer from 2001-2004 while in college at San Francisco State where I studied Journalism. Have worked as a copy editor and sportswriter since 2011. Fan of Dodgers, Angels, Lakers, Kings and Raiders.